The present invention relates to an arrangement for transferring photosensitive materials from cassettes of different types and configurations into a handling machine in general, and more particularly to an arrangement for transferring rolled strip-shaped photographic materials, such as photographic paper strips, into a developing machine.
There are already known arrangements of this type which are capable of transferring the photosensitive material from the respective cassette into the interior of the developing machine without damage thereto, especially without letting ambient light reach the material during its transfer. Such arrangements usually include a slot in an external wall of the machine, a pair of rollers disposed in the interior of the machine in alignment with the slot, and an input part disposed at the region of the external wall surrounding the slot and capable of cooperating with the respective cassette to prevent ambient light from reaching the slot.
One developing machine equipped with such arrangement is disclosed in the published German application DE-OS No. 27 48 480. In this machine, cassettes accommodating paper strips and having different dimensions can be introduced into the interior of a light-impermeably closable housing. However, such an adaptor housing is suited for use for cassettes of a single manufacturer, in that the abutment surface for the front surface of the cassette must be provided with depressions or recesses which are specific to and compatible with cassettes of certain configurations. Therefore, a different adaptor housing has to be provided for cassettes made by each manufacturer. In addition thereto, the adaptor housings are somewhat difficult to handle and take up a considerable amount of space in storage but especially in front of the exposed wall of the developing machine where space may be at a premium.